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SWIFT Consortium learning brief

The SWIFT Consortium


The SWIFT Consortium aims to deliver sustainable
access to safe water and sanitation and
encourage the adoption of basic hygiene practices
in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.
Led by Oxfam, the consortium includes Tearfund
and ODI as Global Members, and Water and
Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) as Global
Associate, along with many implementing partners
in the two focus countries.
The SWIFT programmes objective is to provide
water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services (at
least two of the three) to nearly 850,000 people

Eastern DRC. Photo: Eleanor Farmer


by December 2015, and build capacity until March
2018 to ensure interventions are sustainable,
helping to bridge the gap between humanitarian
and development programmes.
The SWIFT Consortium is funded with UK aid from
the British people under a Payment by Results
contract. Instead of a grant, payment is tied to
outputs and outcomes: non-delivery will result in

Roger Calow, Eva Ludi, Nathaniel Mason (ODI),


and Frank Greaves (Tearfund)

Introducing the SWIFT tool for environmental


assessment and risk screening for rural water supply
Achieving long-term increases in rural water-supply coverage depends on many factors. A new tool
developed for the SWIFT Consortium supports environmental assessment and risk screening activities
for rural water supplies in low-income contexts. When conducting a detailed hydrogeological survey is
not an option, the SWIFT tool provides simple guidance to help identify and mitigate environmental risks
to long-term water availability and quality.
The SWIFT Consortium aims to deliver sustainable access to safe water and sanitation and encourage the
adoption of basic hygiene practices in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya. Led by Oxfam, the
consortium includes Tearfund and ODI as Global Members, and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor
(WSUP) as Global Associate, along with many implementing partners in the two focus countries. The SWIFT
programme is carried out in collaboration with the governments of DRC and Kenya, and with a number of water
service providers.
The SWIFT programmes objective is to provide Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services (at least two
of the three) to nearly 850,000 people by December 2015, and build capacity until March 2018 to ensure
interventions are sustainable, helping to bridge the gap between humanitarian and development programmes.
The SWIFT Consortium is funded with UK aid from the British people under a Payment by Results contract.
Instead of a grant, payment is tied to outputs and outcomes: non-delivery will result in
non-payment, and non-sustainability will result in reduced payment.
Promoting rural water supply in What does the tool involve?
terms of water resource availability The tool helps answer three key questions for new and
Achieving long-term increases in rural water supply existing shallow groundwater sources:
coverage depends on many factors, including sound Is there enough water of suitable quality to meet
financing; community engagement in the design and demand across seasons for the long term?
implementation of schemes; and the training of village What are the main environmental risks to ensuring
mechanics, local government and entrepreneurs in a sustainable supply of safe water?
system upkeep and repair. For a scheme to be sustainable, How can these risks be mitigated?
planning also needs to consider the water resources that
The tool sets out four steps to do this:
are available whether there is enough water, of suitable
quality, to meet demand across seasons and between 1. Understand how much water is available by
good and bad years. Water supplies that depend on tapping local knowledge.
shallow groundwater are generally more vulnerable to 2. Determine how much groundwater is needed
changes in rainfall (and therefore groundwater recharge) to meet demand, and how big the catchment
and demand than those exploiting deeper and/or bigger (recharge) area of a well will need to be to provide
groundwater storage. These can include hand-dug wells, this water.
shallow boreholes, and protected springs. Risks to water
3. Protect the sites and sources by identifying
systems posed by flooding, land degradation and other environmental hazards that could result in site
environmental hazards also need to be considered and degradation and water supply contamination.
mitigated where possible, especially as climate change
4. Maintain records of the assessment, design and
accelerates. For existing schemes, understanding patterns
implementation of groundwater projects, so as to
of seasonal recharge and demand, as well as the likely
inform similar, future projects.
impact of environmental hazards, can help implementers
develop more sustainable management approaches. How should the tool be used?
Why develop a tool? We recommend that field teams work through the four
steps in detail, as set out in the full version of the tool,
In Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, funds and
which is available at http://oxf.am/ZPgD.
expertise are not always available to conduct
The flow chart we include below summarises the main
detailed hydrogeological surveys for new systems
steps and the inputs (data) needed. We recognise
that are dependent on shallow groundwater. In their
that to run the tool in full can be time and resource-
absence, simple guidance is needed to help identify
intensive. Field teams may therefore need to select
and mitigate environmental risks to long-term water
certain inputs/outputs from the tool as has been
availability and quality.
done by SWIFT staff in Kenya and DRC. We would
Who is the tool for? welcome feedback on which elements of the tool
are most useful. The guidance can also be viewed
We originally developed many of the approaches
as a contribution to work promoted by Oxfam and
included in the tool to support local government staff
others around community-oriented monitoring and
implementing water projects in rural Ethiopia,1 and
management of water resources.2
adapted and extended the tool for SWIFT field teams
in DRC and Kenya. The tool is designed to be used by The activities proposed in this tool are most useful
teams with engineering expertise and experience of where water points are developed that access
working with community-based water supply, primarily shallow groundwater, such as hand-dug wells, shallow
in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. We stress that boreholes equipped with hand pumps and springs. The
a tool of this kind will be much less reliable than an tool does not cover all aspects of providing community
assessment by a professional hydrogeologist, so it WASH services and should therefore be used
should only be used when that is not an option. alongside existing guidance and tools, such as water
safety plans, and more formal environmental impact
assessments where they are mandated by national
regulations, or where resources are available.
The tool draws heavily on work carried out by Roger Calow, Eva Ludi, Seifu Kebede and
1

Andrew McKenzie on similar issues in Ethiopia commissioned by DFID-Ethiopia and 2


 ee: http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/managing-water-locally-an-essential-
S
supported by the Government of Finland dimension-of-community-water-development-165794

2
Flow diagram of key inputs and expected outputs of the SWIFT/ODI/Tearfund tool on
environmental assessment and risk screening for rural water supplies
This tool is meant to address the following questions regarding shallow groundwater sources (i.e. protected springs, hand-dug wells and shallow boreholes):
1. Is there enough water of suitable quality to meet demand across seasons for the long term?
2. What are the main environmental risks to ensuring a sustainable supply of safe water?
3. How can these risks be mitigated?
You can use this tool by itself or use components of other tools already familiar to you to obtain similar outputs
STEP 1: Understand how much water is available by STEP 2: Determine how much groundwater is needed to meet demand, and how big the
tapping local knowledge catchment (recharge) area of a well will need to be to provide this water
Basic geological map (detailed if available, See Annotated sketch map and/or photos to identify the resilience / vulnerability of the source See
INPUT or simple sketch map) with project water section INPUT site in terms of drainage section
sources superimposed 1.1 2.1

Expert hydrogeological advice if available See Measurement of distance of water sources from pollution hazards (contamination control See
INPUT (particularly where no mapped data or section INPUT measures needed if hazards are closer than recommended minimum distance) section
records exist) 1.1 2.1

Observation of exposed rock (to compare See Estimate of demand for water, currently and in future (assuming a certain population See
INPUT with summary of typical African geologies section INPUT growth rate e.g. 2.5%) section
and their groundwater potential) 1.1 2.2

3
Well records from the surrounding area See For wells: Estimate of required catchment size by comparing demand with estimated See
INPUT (including data on geology, seasonal yield, section INPUT recharge (latter requires agreeing proportion of annual rainfall that is retained at shallow section
reliability and water quality) 1.1/1.2 aquifer levels and is accessible. A figure of 1% to 3% is recommended to develop secure 2.3
water sources in most areas of Africa with over 750mm of rainfall per year)

Local knowledge of behaviour and history See Estimate of actual catchment sizes for flat or hilly terrain See
INPUT of sources in the area section INPUT section
1.2 2.3

Simple yield measurement of existing See For springs: It is also possible to compare spring yield (measured during the dry season) See
INPUT sources (using bucket and stopwatch, or section INPUT with current/future water demand section
weir plate) 1.3 2.3

OUTPUT OUTPUT
a) Groundwater potential and average yield estimates based on d) Traffic-light assessment of adequacy of catchment size for rainfall and water-demand scenario
geology (See Annex, Table A1)
b) Actual yield measurements of sources in the area
c) Short narrative/tabular information on seasonal and long-term
reliability of the source, including water quality
STEP 3 Protect the sites and sources by identifying environmental STEP 4 Maintain records of the assessment, design and
hazards of, and mitigating measures for, site degradation and water implementation of groundwater projects, so as to inform similar,
supply contamination future projects

Catchment walk/observation to capture sketch map See G


 eological field notes/data from See
INPUT of direct environmental hazards within 150m radius of section geophysical surveys section
the water source (direct environmental hazards include 3.1 INPUT 4

Oxfam GB, Oxfam House,


features like gully erosion, rill erosion, land slips, cattle D
 igging/drilling logs including all data

Email: efeeny@oxfam.org.uk
tracks etc.) relating to the drilling, construction and
geological/geophysical logging, for dry
and successful wells

John Smith Drive, Oxford OX4 2JY, UK


Assessment of severity of hazards: e.g. of gullies, See
INPUT flooding risk, and landslides and landslips, and whether section Pumping test data

The SWIFT Consortium is led and hosted by:


Tel: 44 (0)1865 47 3207/2145/2172/2053
they require immediate remedial action or relocation of 3.1
Seasonal water-level observations
the water facility
R
 ecords on water quality and
observations of seasonal quality
Simple table to identify and outline causes of See variations
INPUT degradation features in the wider catchment (indirect section
3.2 Information on physical and legal
environmental hazards) based on community

of Congo and Kenya. It is funded with UK aid from the British people.
access (e.g., land ownership)
discussion
N
 umber of people using the scheme
and estimate of amount of water
Assessment of severity/extent of indirect environmental See collected per person/household across

Published by Oxfam GB for SWIFT under ISBN 978-1-78077-920-1 in October 2015.


INPUT hazards (simple table constructed with community) section different seasons
3.2
A
 ny incident when water supply system
was not functional, reasons and actions
undertaken

Discussion with partners/authorities/experienced local See R


 ecords of corrective/remedial
INPUT people on management processes for medium to section measures taken to address direct and
high-risk degradation processes (incorporate community 3.3 indirect environmental hazards
representatives and consider also community-based W
 ater level across different seasons
ideas and solutions)
A
 ny chemical, biological and physical
See parameters from water testing
Construction of table identifying corrective measures

swiftconsortium.org
INPUT section
3.3

OUTPUT OUTPUT
e) Remedial measures for direct hazards e.g. to protect against flooding g ) Data records, to be kept at local level and made available to
f ) Catchment and water-point protection plan with corrective measures and as- local government WASH/hydrology department, members of

views presented in this paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of SWIFT or the UK Department for International Development.
signed responsibilities, drawn up/agreed with community national WASH cluster, and key networks that seek to build

SWIFT partners request due acknowledgement and a copy of the publication. For online use, we ask readers to link to the original resource on the SWIFT website. The
Readers are encouraged to reproduce material from SWIFT reports for their own publications, as long as they are not being sold commercially. As copyright holder, the
national databases

The SWIFT Consortium aims to deliver sustainable access to safe water and sanitation and encourage the adoption of basic hygiene practices in the Democratic Republic

Oxfam GB, Tearfund and Overseas Development Institute, 2015. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial License (CC BY-NC 3.0).

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